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DAM STREET (Hong Yan)

FILM INFORMATION

Synopsis In the early 1980s, Xiao Yun, a sixteen year-old girl living in small riverside town in China, discovers she is pregnant. The local community is stunned, her family loses face and she and her boyfriend are expelled from school. In the aftermath, her boyfriend leaves her, and she gives birth and is then forced to put her child up for adoption. Ten years later, her relationship with her family strained and ostracized by residents of the town, Xiao Yunn is reduced to working as a singer in a local song and dance troupe. And her only real companion is Xiao Yong, a fiercely affectionate boy who protects her from the critical eyes of the community until a marriage proposal discovers the limits of their friendship, and the depth of her unresolved past.

About the Director Li Yu was born in 1973 in Shangdong Province in Northern China. She earned a degree in Chinese literature and became one of the top TV hosts in China. After moving to Beijing she began working on documentaries, joining CCTV's (China Central Television) feature program “Life Space.” Her documentaries include Sisters (1999). Her first feature film, Fish and Elephant (2001) was internationally–acclaimed. Dam Street is her second feature film.

Available Screening Formats 35mm, DVD. Digibeta available upon request

"With richly shaded cinematography, three-dimensional characters, and beautiful performances, this contemporary tale creates a lyrical, affecting portrait of a proud woman determined to escape the pressures of an unchanging tradition." -Museum of Modern Art

"Beautiful cinematography and outstanding performances! 'Dam Street' is an immensely touching and captivating story of love and marginalization created with Li's skilled, caring directorial hand. MASTERFUL!" -Toronto International Film Festival

"Chinese filmmaking at its best: Picturesque, emotive and haunting." -Edinburgh International Film Festival

2005
CICAE Award; Standard Reader’s Jury Prize, VENICE FILM FESTIVAL
Robert Wise Award; Best Director, GHENT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
PUSAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL